Update: I was unfortunately not aware of Shamus Young's severe criticism of Fallout 3 available here to link in the original piece and I regret that. It dovetails rather nicely with what I've written and it's much better executed than my piece. I strongly recommend anyone...

GAMING NEWS

Rumor: Wii U Price Tag And Manufacturing Costs Leaked

Last week brought all sorts of Wii U related rumors, the most notable being the fact that developers are allegedly unimpressed with the hardware, going so far as to say that it isn't even as powerful as the current gen HD consoles. We all know that Nintendo likes to make money on its hardware - who wouldn't? - so the console's relatively underpowered specs shouldn't be all that alarming, especially when considering that white brick of a controller they're packing in with it.

A new report from a source supposedly close to Nintendo's manufacturing department suggests that the total cost in making each console is approximately $180. Mind you, that includes the tablet controller, which itself is estimated to cost no more than $50 to manufacture. As such, Nintendo plans to sell the console for $300 when it first launches, earning the company a decent chunk of change for each sale.

According to the source, this "less risky" move by Nintendo was made in an effort to win over investors. "Cutting production costs to maximize profits is Nintendo's main concern with the Wii U. They are cutting costs in the Wii U's hardware to build back confidence in investors. Nintendo wants investors to view the Wii U as a less risky proposition."

A large portion of the gaming community is pretty down right now on Nintendo's upcoming console - myself included - so the company is really going to have to wow gamers at this year's E3 with some amazing games if they hope to be even half as successful as they were with the Wii.